Added to the National Register of Historic Places (and designated a National Historic Landmark) on June 30, 1989

Nowadays, the venerable fireboat Ralph J. Scott is a preservation project. Since being decommissioned in 2003, she’s undergone a meticulous restoration, nearing its completion. She sits on a pedestal in a tented warehouse space on the San Pedro harbor, not far from her former home at Fire Station 112, right on the water. Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society have polished her water cannons and propellers to a burnished gleam, repaired her hull and repainted it a bright cherry red.

Yes, the Ralph J. Scott is living out her retirement in style, getting the maritime version of a mani-pedi. And she deserves it: this boat served from 1925 to 2003, longer than any other piece of apparatus in the history of the LA Fire Department (LAFD), and participated in nearly every significant fire in the Port of LA’s history. As a result, this boat played an important role in the growth and protection of the Port. It also has a lot to teach us about maritime firefighting and fireboat design (in my case, it has taught me literally everything I know about maritime firefighting and fireboat design). 

This boat is named after Chief Engineer Ralph J. Scott, known as a progressive leader of the LAFD during his tenure from 1919 through 1940. He oversaw the shift from manually-operated to motorized fire apparatus. He also supported a 1922 bond measure that raised $2.5 million for the construction of 14 new fire stations in LA, plus a new metal fireboat to replace the wooden-hulled Fireboat No. 1. Though it had just entered service in 1919, Fireboat No. 1 simply wasn’t built to keep up with the firefighting capabilities demanded by an expanding Port of LA.

The new LA City No. 2, as she was known for her first 40 years, was designed by marine architect G.N. Newby, built by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation in San Pedro for $214,000, and officially launched on October 20, 1925. On opening day, she was christened with a bottle of fire-fighting foam, wielded by Ralph J. Scott’s wife. It would be 40 years before the boat’s name was changed to honor Scott, who had worked so hard to get her on the water.

By 1926, the Scott had a new fire station and wooden boathouse to match, at Berth 226-227 on Terminal Island, strategically placed near the center of the Port of LA. 

When she was built, this baby was state-of-the-art – a 99-foot, steel-framed and -hulled beauty, powered by seven 350-horsepower gasoline engines and three propellers. She was capable of a speed of 17 knots (~20 mph), making it one of the fast fireboats around. She sucked up ocean water through six bronze Byron Jackson pumps, so durable that an LAFD Historical Society volunteer told me that they only needed to be fixed once, when a ball bearing went kaput.

The boat could dispense over 10,000 gallons per minute through 24 hoses and five turret-mounted water cannons. That included a massive cannon mounted on the pilothouse called “Big Bertha,” that spit a 6-inch stream up to 400 feet; and another cannon atop a telescoping 33-foot tower, which could raise up to 44 feet. Back in the day a crew of 14 LAFD officers and firefighters manned the Scott.

Up on deck she carried breathing apparatus, a bank of CO₂ cylinders to extinguish engine room fires (these were removed after the gas engine was converted to diesel in the ‘70s), a flood light, grappling hooks, syphon ejectors, 4000 feet of hose and more. 

“Many are the tales of marine fires – of the strange things fires will do in the hold of a ship, or of burning wharves. But anyone can see from the picture of the Boat taken recently that Los Angeles No. 2 is ready as ever to answer the call of any victim of the “Red Demon” that would destroy, whether it be ship or warehouse or wharf; lumberyard or oil storage or barge. Like a great stallion at play, she is pictured, with the deep throated roar of her engines, the pounding of mighty hoofs, the silvery spray of her high flown water streams, the flying mane and tail, the imperious call of her whistle – the shrill challenge of a champion. She is ever confident of her conquering power and waiting the next trial of her eternal adversary and immortal enemy – FIRE.”

-Stanley E. Halfhill, The Firemen’s Grapevine, November 15, 1940

The LA City No. 2 / Ralph J. Scott participated in nearly every fire-related emergency that befell the Port of LA during her years on the water. A few of the more memorable ones: 

• March 3, 1926: A schooner called the Sierra catches fire while unloading Douglas fir at the EK Wood Company wharf.
• October 21, 1944: Navy welders accidentally ignite some vapors leaking from a tanker on Terminal Island. The explosion kills 16 and injures 50, destroys two Navy vessels and 25 vehicles, plus 200 feet of the wharf.
• June 22, 1947: The tanker Markay explodes with a cargo of gasoline and butane, killing 11 and setting fire to multiple wharves and warehouses. The crew of LA City No. 2 has to blast away the fire spreading across the water, before concentrating on the waterfront and the Markay itself. One crewmember describes this firefight as using “water pistols in hell.”
• March 17, 1960: A fire at the Matson Terminal in San Pedro sets ablaze some creosote-soaked wood underneath the wharf. As a result the LAFD starts employing scuba divers to deploy nozzles from below; the crew of the LA City No. 2 develops the underwharf equipment, which soon becomes part of the boat’s arsenal. 
• December 17, 1976: The supertanker Sansinena blows apart while loading fuel, throwing its deck house some 600 feet ashore. Nine die and the damages exceed $21 million; the Scott and other fireboats fight the fire for hours and rescue more than 18 crewmen. 

During World War II, the boat was painted gray, and served as a patrol craft. An LAFD Historical Society volunteer told me that some of the crew’s dive gear was donated to the US Navy after Pearl Harbor.  

The Scott underwent plenty of technological upgrades over the years. Engines were replaced in the ‘40s; a mast and new radar unit were added in 1956. Instead of retiring the boat in 1969, LAFD opted to modify it to reduce the manpower required (down to eight crew members from the original 14), and improve its firefighting capacity. Hand-wheel monitors became hydraulically-operated, electric controls replaced the manual steering wheel, a “quiet room” was installed so that crew could actually hear each other while operating the boat, etc. On deck, a power lift boom and basket was added to more easily get firefighters on the deck of a burning ship. Another significant upgrade occurred in the 1970s, when the old gas engines were replaced with diesel ones, which are much less likely to catch fire – a big improvement over taking 2000 gallons of gas to a firefight.

In 1986, the boat’s old home at Berth 226-227 on Terminal Island was demolished, and the Scott relocated to a temporary home behind the LA Maritime Museum (see visit #170). A new Station 112 was erected in 1995, and the Ralph J. Scott was housed there for the final years of its active life. Finally she was retired in 2003, and moved outdoors to make room for her replacement the Warner L. Lawrence, called “the world’s most powerful fireboat.” 

After a decade of sitting on blocks right off Harbor Boulevard, exposed to the elements, the Scott was covered by that steel-framed, tented warehouse in 2013. You can go see it in person most Saturday mornings (outside of the holiday season). The Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society is at the end of an 18-year effort to rehab the Scott, but currently you can only view it from the ground – they’ve run into some financial stumbling blocks as they try to arrange for public access to the deck and interior. Consider donating to the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society here, if you want to help them preserve access to this icon of LA harbor history.

Thank you to Larry Schneider, Captain II, Retired of the Los Angeles Fire Department, for granting permission to use the historic photos you see on this post. His website LAFire.com was an invaluable resource in my research. And thank you to Don Nash of the LAFD Historical Society for updating me on the current status of public access to the Ralph J. Scott.

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ Borden, Frank: “LAFD History – Preserving LAFD Fireboat 2, “The Ralph J. Scott”” (Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association website, November 1, 2013)

+ Delgado, James P: Ralph J Scott’s NRHP nomination form 

+ Ethington, Donna: “Custody Battle Rages Over Retired L.A. Fireboat Ralph J. Scott” (The Log, February 6, 2004 – via LAFire.com)

+ “Fire Boat No. 2” (LAFire.com)

+ “Fire Boat No. 2 – Ralph J. Scott Construction – 1924 to 1925” (LAFire.com)

+ Gnerre, Sam: “South Bay History: Fireboat No. 2, the Ralph J. Scott, served the Port of Los Angeles with distinction for 78 years” (Daily Breeze, May 20, 2019)

+ Halfhill, Stanley E.: “Los Angeles Fire Boat No. 2” (The Firemen’s Grapevine, November 15, 1940 – via Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association website, March 31, 2014)

+ Harvey, Steve: “Heroic Fireboat 2 finds itself out of water” (Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2009)

+ Howser, Huell: “Fireboat Update” (Visiting with Huell Howser | KCET, Aug 20, 2014)

+ Jarvis, Michael T: “All Hands off Deck” (Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2003)

+ Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society: “Old Fire Boat 2” brochure (received May 27, 2023)

+ Port of Los Angeles/Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society: “The History and Evolution of Fireboats in the Port of Los Angeles” brochure (received May 27, 2023)

+ “Ralph J. Scott” (LA Fire Department Museum website)